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Did you ever go away in the steam cars or in a steam-Boat? 

How long did you stay ? What did you do for a clean dress or a clean apron while you were gone ? 

Some-body we know is going to take a journey soon. A great number of our little friends are going to a warmer country.But they are not going in the cars, nor in a boat. No ; nor in a carriage, nor in the horse cars ! Hundreds of themWill go together, and not one of them will take a trunk or even a lunch-basket!

Mr. and Mrs. Robin Redbreast, with all their children ; Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird, with all their children ; Mr. and Mrs.

Thrush, with their children, and scores of their cousins;

Mr. and Mrs. Blackbird, and all the little Blackbirds ; and many a bird that you have not seen or heard this year, will soon fly away to the warm country where they will find green leaves and bright flowers even at Christmas time.Some birds will stay with us. The Pigeons will not go away, nor will the Sparrows go ; and if you could go into the woods where many trees grow, you would find the Crows and the Blue Jays even in midwinter.

            🌺🌺COMING AND GOING🌺🌺

There came to our fields a pair of birds that had never built a nest nor seen a winter. How beautiful was every-thing ! The fields were full of flowers, and the grass was growing tall, and the bees were humming everywhere.There came to our fields a pair of birds that had never built a nest nor seen a winter. How beautiful was every-thing ! The fields were full of flowers, and the grass was growing tall, and the bees were humming everywhere.Then one of the birds began singing, and the other bird said, "Who told you to sing?" And he answered, "The flowers told me, and the bees told me, and the winds and leaves told me, and the blue sky told me, and you told me to sing." Then his mate answered, " When did I tell you to sing ? " And he said, " Every time you brought in tender grass for the nest, and every time your soft wings fluttered off again for hair and feathers to line the nest."Then his mate said, " What are you singing about ?

And he answered, " I am singing about everything and

nothing." It is because I am so happy that I sing."

By and by five little speckled eggs were in the nest, and

his mate said, " Is there anything in all the world as pretty as my eggs .'' " Then they both looked down on

some people that were passing by and pitied them because

they were not birds.

In a week or two, one day, when the father-bird came

home, the mother-bird said, " Oh, what do you think

has happened .'* " " What .' " " One of my eggs, has been

peeping and moving ! " Pretty soon another ^^^ moved

under her feathers, and then another and another, till five

little birds were hatched ! Now the father-bird sang louder

and louder than ever. The mother-bird, too, wanted to

sing, but she had no time, and so she turned her song into

work. So hungry were these little birds that it kept both

parents busy feeding them. Away each one flew. The

moment the little birds heard their wings fluttering among

the leaves, five yellow mouths flew open wide, so that

nothing could be seen but five yellow mouths

!

"Can anybody be happier .'' " said the father-bird to the

mother-bird. " We will live in this tree always, for there

is no sorrow here. Jt is a tree that always bears joy."

Soon the little birds were big enough to fly, and great

was their parents' joy to see them leave the nest and sit crumpled up upon the branches. There was then a great

time ! The two old birds talking and chatting to make

the young ones go alone ! In a little time they had learned

to use their wings, and they flew away and away, and

found their own food, and built their own nests, and sang

their own songs of joy.

Then the old birds sat silent and looked at each other,

until the mother-bird said, "Why don't you sing .^

"

And he answered, "I can't sing — I can only think and

think." "What are you thinking of.''" "I am thinking

how everything changes : the leaves are falling off from

this tree, and soon there will be no roof over our heads ; the flowers are all going ; last night there was a frost

;

almost all the birds are flown away. Something calls me,

and I feel as if I would like to fly far away."

" Let us fly away together ! " Then they rose silently, and, lifting themselves far up

in the air, they looked to the north : far away they saw

the snow coming. They looked to the south : there they

saw flowers and green leaves ! All day they flew ; and all night they flew and flew, till they found a land where there

was no winter —where flowers always blossom, and birds

always sing.